Reference!

Daily Hours: 4
Total Hours: 86

I spent my shift shadowing at the reference desk today.  I think the most important thing I came away with was the fact that you sure can learn a lot about the information needs of a library's user base in a short amount of time on that desk!  First of all, the reference staff at Goodman don't spend a lot of time physically sitting at the desk.  During my time at Goodman I have heard a ton of talk about the computer situation: they are in desperate need of more computers, but there is no space.  Currently, the computers are set up between the reference and circulation desk, an arrangement that works particularly well (multiple staff members have commented to me about it) because, in general, the computer users at the branch tend to have a lot of small questions or needs.  It's really interesting to see how the digital divide plays out within the branches...  A separate computer lab just wouldn't work in our branch, unless there was a staff person embedded there at all times.

Besides jumping up to provide computer help, I spent a some time helping group of kids and their teacher find books about Wisconsin and information about their local Alderman, who was coming to talk to them the next day.  I also was tasked with searching out Mo Willems books for a last minute display to fill up a space in the children's section.  Now, according to LINKcat, there were multiple Mo Willems books on the shelf at the branch, but it took me 15 minutes to find them since they were shelved in the "Favorites" section of the new organization system MPL has developed for children's books.  The books are supposed to be organized "generally" by author, but really you have to look through everything when searching for a particular title because they are so far out of order.  At first when I found out about the new system, I really liked the idea. It makes browsing a breeze for parents; the forward facing organization makes it easy to flip through and discover new books with interesting covers that you wouldn't necessarily just pick up if you only saw the spine.  I had a conversation with Chris about how the staff has felt about the change and she said that yes, it has been a source of frustration on many occasions because it has made things much more difficult for anyone looking for a certain title.  It's interesting to think about the ways libraries can choose to prioritize certain information-seeking needs. In my mind, the patron's needs should be foremost, but I feel like there are still some kinks that need to be worked out with the new organizational system that could strike a better balance between the needs of"browsers" and people looking for specific titles...

Another interesting interaction we had on the desk today was with a man came to us to ask for help about his bankruptcy filling process.  Chris tried to get a hold of both the State Law Library, as well as the County Law Library, but no one was available at either place.  We looked through his papers a bit more and noticed he needed to fill out another form online, but when Chis asked if he wanted to reserve a computer he said he would need someone to help him fill out everything because he wasn't very good with computers.  So after wrangling the schedule, Chris was able to book a time for him to come in later this afternoon and have an hour of one-on-one help with a staff person.  This interaction led to an interesting conversation about how the branch deals with situations like this.  It really shows the level of dedication to reference help many staff members have at the branch; no official one-on-one help is advertised, but many staff people make a concerted effort to make sure these kind of more in-depth information needs are met, even if it means going out of their way to do it.  Like I've said before, I've been continually impressed with the level of concern and effort that Chris puts into best serving the South Madison community, not to mention her patience and understanding;  it has already taught me a so much about how to be the best "community librarian" I can be in my future career!